Brief Introduction to Russian Songs

Brief Introduction to Russian Songs (for an American Folk Fan)
(Archive: ria-rosbolt. medium . com / e8a08556beb5)

Once upon a time I promised a friend of mine, who is an American singer-songwriter in a Southwest new-folk style (hopefully, he does not read this) to give a sampler of Russian songs that are stylistically close to… to… something we like listening now in the U.S. and Canada. Without examples, how would I explain that a close analog to American folk does exist in Russian culture but not called folk and that Russian folk is so far from the American one that it is closer to the steampunk. You got the idea. And, surprisingly, I kept my promise.

Why are we even touching all this… eh… culture? Because, historically, there is no bad cultures and all cultures may learn something from each other. Enjoy (or not).

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I promised you some examples of Russian music somehow similar to contemporary American folk or whatever you and your friends do. What is important: all the authors are more or less (it is a long story) good guys, no relation to crimes of the Russian regime (one was at one point a Soviet spy, one somehow coexists with Putin’s regime, but it would be too many footnotes to explain — and for you it is just music).

Boris Grebenschikov (he is in exile in London now) The one, I should say

It is a “contemporary” (in fact, 1980-ish, rare recording) performance of a song written by (late, great) Alexander Vertinsky in the end of 1917 about young cadets who tried to stop the Bolshevik coup and were all killed. I guess, it is a father of modern Russian “guitar” (underground) songs and the most famous anti-war Russian song ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypLajYlfMiA&t=31s

Adrian&Alexander (Scherbina) — Kronstadt

I studied the obscure subject and published myself, but even irrespectively, I think it is good music that matches the story of an idealist who realized in 1921 that something went wrong with the revolution and was killed, with hundreds other revolting sailors, as a result — he is dying in the song full of his last thoughts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgjpvqs17QQ

Michael Elisarov — We are on the train — JEDEM DAS SEINE

The author is an accomplished novelist whose songs are so controversial that some are already taken off YouTube. He has lived in Germany and in his songs often mix Nazi Germany and modern Russia. Like, “we are on the train” in Russian is exactly like German “jedem” that is a part of the sentence that you can see on the gate of the (in)famous concentration camp. 11 years ago not everyone understood what it was all about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS4JGToewj8

Rostislav Chebykin “Dairymaid and Vampire”

The plot: in the Soviet time, the milk productivity targets at a collective farm (named “Red Twilight”) could not be achieved because a local tractor driver was a vampire and drunk cow blood at night. Once he was caught in the act by a dairymaid who was also a werewolf and could tear him apart if not an intervention of a local wise man who predicted that everything would end fine if the farm reaches some target productivity numbers. They worked hard and got it. A happy end. This author is not famous but really good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqoE6nUEuU4

An Accident (Alexei Kortnev) — “Sasha was walking along a highway”

They made a very meaningful, touchy song from just a senseless phrase used by speech therapists. Currently they are not allowed to perform in Russia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud_2_ket04A

Ebonite Axe (Vasia Lozhkin) — Forward, Russia!

Russian speakers understand that the name of the band means “Fucking Axe” that shows: this is a political satire of high quality and predictive power. Lozhkin is an artist whose work every Russian knows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=586eyeY3To0

Mihei Nosorogov (means Mike Rhino) — Fuck it!

Russian language singer-songwriter from Belarus. Do not show this video to Russian speakers without asking. Not many printable words there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GyWyhT02Vk

“Silver Wedding” cabaret band — Black River

They are appealing to the great Russian writer Alexander Pushkin on his last night in 1837, trying to convince him to abandon the next day’s duel where he was killed (on the bank of the Black River). This was a Russian language band from Belarus where they cannot perform now; the singer girl (quite famous), at least, could escape to exile.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYCRNGikr50

Lord Pneumatic Elephant — Fuck it, I will mount my horse…

It is a slightly different music style but a common feeling about life. You do not want me to translate anything from this great song. How relevant? Just walk along Central.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNz5el3seR8

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All this is not considered in Russia as folk. What is Russian folk? It is not bad, but different and good examples are more rare. (Available now Ukrainian folk is, probably, more interesting — you would be surprised, but it is a different subject.) I show you something that might look strange, but it is real.

Otava Yo — Russian couplets while fighting

This is a reenactment of an authentic Russian 19 century folk song on the subject of the favorite pastime back then that is brawling. Notice: 61M views.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JQ0xnJyb0A

Otava Yo — A cat has four legs

The story: they resurrected the actual folk song of 1930-ish. Every Russian knows about “A cat has four legs”, but nobody knows the whole poem or the song; they researched (and added some Irish flavor). This group is still performing in Russia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmt7r6NM928

A couple examples of modern songs that are considered folk:

Future Corpses — “Come back to Ostashkov”

She writes letters to her former lovers inviting them to see their children — and they all show up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rJCdw4HY_c

Leningrad — Elections!

This is a song (clip from a movie) that became folk song that everybody knows. You may guess what this guy has to say about Russian elections; he employs homophobic slur to express his feelings; very politically incorrect by any standards, and became a meme.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CLBANCVHTw

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P.S. When sending you Russian samplers, I just forget one without which the collection is incomplete for an English-speaker:

Dan Kahn (joined by Vanya Zhuk) — “Bulat Okudzhava’s Songs”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp3qWPHdZ8w&t=467s

Normally, we are suspicious of translations, especially in poetry. However, a quality translation of an important set of Russian songs does exist, and I like the author as a singer-songwriter on his own (I talked to him). The guy moved from Detroit to Berlin on a mission of collecting and reviving pre-war European Jewish songs. He succeeded spectacularly (sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KFVVKFxr60), bringing this dead music to life. Meanwhile, doing this work, he befriended some strange and interesting people and moved in a direction far away from his initial target. He authored good, original songs (samples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5XRZAWk8Jc; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh7d-g_uVMg) and prepared a collection of Russian songs in translation that are an important part of Russian culture but not related to his Jewish studies at all. The late Bulat Okudzhava was ethnic Georgian and an important poet and historical novelist in Russian language. His (for many years, underground) songs are a part of local culture at the level of “everybody knows”). Bulat’s parents were Georgian revolutionaries killed by Stalin, and he as a young man served in the army through WWII and miraculously survived. This and later Soviet experiences are reflected in his songs, but not directly.